This combination of May 20, 2018, photos shows Georgia gubernatorial candidates Stacey Abrams, left, and Brian Kemp in Atlanta. Democrats and Republicans nationwide will have to wait a bit longer to see if Georgia elects the first black woman governor in American history or doubles down on the Deep South’s GOP tendencies with an acolyte of President Donald Trump (AP Photos/John Amis, File)

The Latest: Abrams campaign says it will fight on

ATLANTA (AP) — The Latest on the race for Georgia governor (all times local):

12:25 p.m.

Stacey Abrams' campaign says it will continue to fight to get all outstanding votes counted in the Georgia governor's race and won't accept former Secretary of State Brian Kemp's declaration of victory.

At a news conference Thursday, Abrams' campaign chairwoman Allegra Lawrence-Hardy said the campaign demands that the secretary of state's office "release all the data, all the numbers, and they need to count every single vote."

The announcement came shortly after Kemp announced he was stepping down as secretary of state and moving forward with the transition to become the state's next governor.

(This item has been edited to correct the title of Abrams' campaign chairwoman).

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10:30 a.m.

Georgia Republican gubernatorial candidate and Secretary of State Brian Kemp says only about 20,000 provisional ballots remain uncounted in the race.

He says even if his opponent Democrat Stacey Abrams "got 100 percent of those votes, we still win."

Kemp's statement came at a news conference Thursday with outgoing Republican Gov. Nathan Deal. Kemp also announced that he was stepping down as secretary of state as of 11:59 a.m. An interim secretary will oversee the rest of the vote counting.

That announcement came as a federal court hearing was being held on a lawsuit from five Georgia residents who asked a judge to block Kemp from having any further role in overseeing the election.